Bass section for accordion or the like



Dec. l1, 1962 M. MOSCHINO BASS SECTION FOR ACCORDION OR THE LIKE FiledJuly 5, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ni@ l INVENTOR.

DCC 11, 1962 M. MOSCHINO 3,067,645

BAss SECTION FOR ACCORDEON' 0R THE LIKE Filed July 5, 1960 2Sheets-Sheet 2 h una una luna United States Patent Olitiee 3,067,645BASSS SECTIQN FOR ACCGRDION GR THE LiKE Mario Moschino, 2005 N. Lamon,Chicago, ll. Filed iuly 5, 1966, Ser. No. 40,586 4 Claims. (GCI.841-376) This invention relates to a bass section for a musicalinstrument, such as an accordion or the like.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a button type basssection for such a musical instrument wherein the buttons of the basssection control only single tones so that by manipulation of the buttonsscales may be played and desired chords and chord positions may becomposed at will, and wherein the buttons are so arranged that scalesand chords in any key may be played with Ythe same button lingeringsequence.

Briefly, the musical instrument bass section of this invention includesa plurality of octave groups of chromatically related tone producingmeans, such as the reeds and valves of an accordion, and a plurality or"longitudinally arranged repeating octave groups of buttons arranged inlongitudinal and transverse rows, there being at least seven andpreferably eight longitudinal rows of buttons. The intervals between thebuttons in the longitudinal rows are in major thirds (two steps) and theintervals between the buttons in the transverse rows are in minorseconds (one-half step). Each three successive transverse rows ofbuttons form an octave group of buttons which contains two buttons whichare common to each tone. There may be any desired number of octavegroups. Means are provided for connecting the buttons in each octavegrot z, including the buttons which are common to a tone, to thecorresponding tone producing means of each octave group, respectively.As a result, scales and chords of any key may be played with the samebutton fingering sequence and without finger crossing or hopping fromone button to another.

Further objects of this inventio-n reside in the details of constructionof the bass section and in the co-operative relationships between thecomponent parts thereof.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art upon reference to the accompanying specication,claims and drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational View of an accordion bass section withthe cover thereof removed;

FGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view showing the arrangements ofthe buttons of the accordion illustrated in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view through the `accordion basssection taken substantially along the line 3 3 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective View of a portion of theaccordion bass section illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 3; and

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal sectional View taken substantially along theline 5-5 of FIGURE 3.

The bass section for the accordion or the like is gener'- allydesignated at 1t) and it includes a bottom wall 11, a top wall 12, endwalls 13, and a removable cover for enclosing the parts therein. It alsoincludes a supporting wall 1d which is in communication with theconventional accordion bellows (not shown). `Mounted on the supportingwall 14 is a plurality of boxes 16, 17, and 1S carrying the usual toneproducing reeds 19. rl`he passage of air past the reeds 19 for producingthe desired tones is controlled by valves and 21, the valves Zitcontrolling the reeds on the boxes 16 and 17 and the valve 21controlling the reeds on the boxes 17 and 18.

Each valve 2t) is carried by an arm 23 pivoted to the supporting wall 14at 24 and the valves 2t) are normally 3,057,645 Patented Dec. 11, 1952urged to a closed position by springs 25. Each valve 20 also carries anoperating hook 26. In a similar manner each valve 21 is carried by anarm 27 pivoted to the supporting member 14 at 28 and the valves 21 arenormally held in a closed position by springs 29. Each valve 21 is alsoprovided with an operating hook 30. The hooks 26 and 3) operateselectively to open the valves 2li and 21.

A subframe 33 is carried at its ends through suitable spacers by thesupporting wall 14 and a plurality of rods 34, 3S, and 36 are rotatablymounted thereon, the rods being rotatably held in place against thesubframe by plates 38 secured to the subfrarne. In a like manner, thesupporting wall 14 carries a subframe 4G which in turn rotatably carriesa plurality of rods `41, 42, and d3, the rods being rotatably held inplace against the subframe by plates 44 secured to the subfrarne. Therods 34, 35 and 36 each carry an operating member 37 which engages theoperating hook 26 of a related valve 2) and, likewise, the rods 41, 12,and 43 each carry an operating member 45 for engaging the operating hook3d of the related valve 21. Thus there is one rod associated with eachvalve and rotation of that rod operates to open that valve and in thisway the valves may be individually opened by rotating the correspondingrods.

A guide strip 51B is carried by the supporting wall 14 by means ofbrackets 51 and this guide strip 56 is provided with a plurality ofslots therein for slidably receiving a plurality of pushers 52 whichcarry buttons 53 at their outer ends, the buttons 53 being slidablyreceived in holes 54 in the top wall 12. The pushers 52 are providedwith pins 55 which engage the underside of the strip Sti to limit theoutward movement of the pushers. The pushers S2 also carry pins 56 whichare adapted to engage levers 57 carried by the rods 34, 35, and 36 androds dit, 42 and d3. Thus when a button S3 is depressed, the pusher 5?.is depressed and the pin 56 carried thereby engages the lever 57 torotate the associated rod for opening its associated valve Zit or valve21.

'In a like manner, la second guide strip 6@ is secured to the supportingwall 14 by brackets 61 and this guide strip 611 is also provided with aplurality of slits for slidably receiving pushers 62 which have buttons63 on their outer ends which are slidably received in holes 64- in thetop wall 12. The bottom ends of the pushers 62 are provided withshoulders 65 which engage the bottom oi the strip 61B for limitingoutward movement of the pushers 62 and their buttons 63. The pushers 62are provided with pins 66 which engage levers 67 carried by therotatable rods 41, 42, and 43 and rods 34, 35 and 36. When a button 63is depressed, its push-er 62 is depressed and the pin 66 carried therebyengages a lever 67 carried by one of the rods for opening its associatedvalve 21 or valve Ztl. It will be noted that some or" the buttons 63operate the valves 21 and others operate the valves 2l) and also some ofthe buttons 53 operate the valves Zt and others operate the valves 21.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, it is seen that the buttons 63 and 53 arearranged in longitudinal and transverse rows and for purposes ofillustration the buttons `are lettered to designate the individual tonesthat are produced by depressing the buttons and the longitudinal rowsare nun bered 1 to 8. The intervals between the buttons in thelongitudinal rows are in major thirds (two steps) and the intervalsbetween the buttons in the transverse rows are in minor seconds(one-half step). `It should also be noted that the bottom four rows ofbuttons S3 are offset with respect to the top four rows of buttons 63and that the button designations of the buttons 53 repeat the buttondesignations of the buttons 63. The buttons S3 and 63 are longitudinallyarranged in repeating octave groups, each octave group comprising threesuccessive transverse rows of buttons, there being 24 buttons in eachoctave oneness group and there being two buttons in each octave grouptor each single tone of the octave. For example, as illustrated in FGURE4, the E button 63 and the E button :S3 both operate the E rod 41 foroperating the E valve 2li, and, likewise, the F button 63 and the Fbutton 53 both operate the F rod 34 for operating the F valve 2d. Thisis true for every valve in an octave and a particular tone in thatoctave may be produced by depressing one or the other of thecorresponding buttons 53 and o3 in that octave group, As shown in FIG.2, an octave group extends from one tone button in a longitudinal row tothe next corresponding tone button in that same longitudinal row, forexample, from one C button to the next C button in row 4, or from one Fbutton to the next F button in row 3, or from one G button to the next Gbutton in row S, or from one D button to the next D button in row 2, orthe like. These octave groups of buttons are longitudinally repeated, asshown in 2, and there may be any desired number of repeating octavegroups. By reason of this arrangement of buttons, as illustrated inFIGURE 2, scales and chords of any key may be played with the sainebutton linger sequence.

While FIGURE 2 illustrates an arrangement utilizing eight longitudinalrows of buttons, rows l to 8, the bottom row 8 of buttons 53 may beomitted so that there would be three rows of longitudinal buttons 'it to3` and 5 to 7 on each side of the central row 4. ln such an arrangementthe buttons in the central row i would not be repeated, although thebuttons in all of the other rows would be repeated. With such anarrangement utilizing seven longitudinal rows of buttons 1 to 7, it isstill possible to play scale and chords of any key with the same buttonlingering sequence and such an arrangement is also within the purview otthis invention.

Also by reason of the button arrangement of this invention it ispossible to play scales in any desired key with continuous fingeringwithout finger crossing or the need for hopping from one button toanother and, as a result, an even and pleasing liow or progression oftone changes may be brought about.

While for purposes of illustration, one form of this invention with avariation thereof has been disclosed, other forms of this invention maybecome apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to thisdisclosure and, therefore, this invention is to be limited only by thescope of i appended claims.

l claim as my invention:

l. A bass section for a musical instrument comprising a plurality oroctave groups of chromatically related tone producing means, a pluralityof longitudinally arranged repeating octave groups of buttons arrangedin longitudinal and transverse rows, each group consisting of tweny-iourbuttons arranged in eight longitudinal rows and three transverse rowsand including two buttons which are common to each tone in the octave,the intervals between the buttons in the longitudinal rows being inmajo-r thirds and the intervals between the butto-ns in the transverserows being in minor seconds, and means for connecting the two buttonswhich are common to each tone in each octave group to the correspondingtone producing means of each octave group, respectively, whereby scalesand chords of any key may be played with the same button fingeringsequence.

2. A bass section for a musical instrument comprising a plurality ofoctave groups of chroinatically related tone producing means, aplurality oit buttons arranged in at least seven longitudinal rows andin a plurality of transverse rows, the intervals between the buttons inthe longitudinal rows being in major thirds, the intervals between Vthebutto-ns in the transverse rows being in minor seconds, and each threesuccessive transverse rows of buttons forming an octave group of buttonscontaining two buttons which are common to a tone, and means forconnecting the butto-ns in each `octave group, including the buttonswhich are common to a tone, to the corresponding tone producing means ofeach octave group, respectively, whereby scales and chords of any keymay be played with the same button iingering sequence,

3. A bass section for a musical instrument comprising a plurality ofoctave groups of chroinatically related tone producing means, aplurality of buttons arranged in seven longitudinal rows and in aplurality of transverse rows, the intervals between the buttons in thelongitudinal rows being in major thirds, the intervals between thebuttons in the transverse rows being in minor seconds, each threesuccessive transverse rows of buttons forming an octave group ofbuttons, and there being two buttons in the longitudinal rows of buttonsin each octave group which are common to each tone except for the tonesof the central longitudinal row of buttons, and means for connecting thebuttons in each octave group, including the buttons which are common toa tone, to the corresponding tone producing means of each octave group,respectively, whereby scales and chords of any key may be played withthe same button fingering sequence.

4. A bass section for a musical instrument comprising a plurality ofoctave groups of chromatically related tone producing means, a pluralityof buttons arranged in eight longitudinal rows and in a plurality oftransverse rows, the intervals between the buttons in the longitudinalrows being in major thirds, the intervals between the buttons in thetransverse rows being in minor seconds, each three successive transverserows of buttons forming an octave group of buttons, and there being twobuttons in each octave group of buttons which are common to each tone,and means for connecting the two buttons which are common to each tonein each octave group to the corresponding tone producing means of eachoctave group, respectively, whereby scales and chords of any key may beplayed with the same button fingering sequence,

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

